


Not All Superhero Costumes Come With Capes

by elfin (crazylittleelf)



Category: Fringe
Genre: Character Study, Gen, Hero Worship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-09-24
Updated: 2012-09-24
Packaged: 2017-11-14 16:18:06
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 555
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/517218
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/crazylittleelf/pseuds/elfin
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Three weeks after she follows Olivia Dunham down the rabbit hole that's fringe science, Astrid blows half her paycheck on a perfectly-tailored gray suit.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Not All Superhero Costumes Come With Capes

When Astrid joins the FBI, she reads the dress code very carefully and works out exactly how much leeway there is in deviating away from the standard issue penguin suit. 

She has suits, yes, but they frequently lose out to brightly colored shirts and slim-cut pants, vintage shoes and sweaters, patterned scarves that glimmer like jewels. It's not that she has anything against the darkly professional attire of her peers, really. It's just not her thing. She wrinkles her nose at the teasing she gets, does a good job, and eventually it's not a issue at all that she stands out among the funeral-drab ocean of gray around her. She doesn't give it much thought until her first real assignment and Astrid suddenly has a crush worse than the one she had on her forensics lecturer at the academy.

Her supervising agent is tall and blonde, poised and confidant. She stares down argumentative coworkers and hostile suspects with an ease that Astrid envies. She strides through the federal building just short of swaggering, pale hair swaying over the dark gray of her suit as she cuts a swath through the agents around her, Astrid trailing in her wake.

Three weeks after she follows Olivia Dunham down the rabbit hole that's fringe science, Astrid blows half her paycheck on a perfectly-tailored gray suit.

She doesn't feel even the tiniest bit guilty buying something she has no intention of ever wearing outside of her apartment. 

Astrid spends a long time deliberating over which one to buy, feeling the fabric, tilting her head at the suits under the bright fluorescent light that leech away the nuance of the colors. She thinks, going in, that classic black is the way to go, but there's a charcoal one that her eyes are drawn to again and again. The deep gray shimmers like wet shale in the light, and when she leans close she sees that the little pinstripes are pale green, and that seals the deal as far as she's concerned. She has it hemmed, tailored, and when she puts it on in her bedroom for the first time, she can't stop grinning at herself in the mirror. She even flexes her arms, because that's what super heroes do, right? Astrid giggles at herself and wears the suit for the rest of the evening before she hangs it carefully and tucks it away.

She thinks about wearing it sometimes, out of her apartment, wearing it to work. She thinks about the way Olivia's eyes would widen just a little, then her mouth would twitch into that tiny lop-sided smile. Astrid thinks she would flush a little under Olivia's scrutiny, the way she does when she's explaining something to the senior agent, waiting for Olivia's approval and the sense of pride that comes along with it.

Sometimes before work, especially if it's one of those days where work begins before the sky's even started to lighten, heralded by a cellphone call and hurried explanation, Astrid reaches into her narrow closet, behind the dresses she never has time to wear out anymore, and brushes her fingers over the soft wool, feeling the texture of the pinstripes under the tips of her fingers. She smiles when she does this, thinks about superheroes found in unexpected places, squares her shoulders and lifts her chin.


End file.
